Shortpacked! by David Willis

Discussion (50) ¬

1. 
   David Herbert

   January 7, 2011 at 12:03 am | # | Reply

   You know, these were a lot less profane than I assumed they would be.

   • 
     arjay2813

     January 7, 2011 at 12:06 am | # | Reply

     these are a lot tamer than i figured they would be, considering the source. the last one was pushing it, but still not that bad

     • 
       JK9000

       January 7, 2011 at 12:56 am | # | Reply

       I think 4chan in general is a lot tamer than most people expect it to be. I mean, it’s a festering shithole full of lonely, bitter, maladjusted, and above all bored people looking to take full advantage of anonymity to express any and all socially unacceptable thoughts regardless of consequence… But that’s hardly unique on the internet. Most of the folk there you can find pretty much anywhere. Not everyone’s a pedophile or sociopath, they just mostly don’t mind sharing cyberspace with such people (which is still pretty disturbing).
   • 
     Ruri

     January 7, 2011 at 2:10 am | # | Reply

     I believe the really bad stuff occurs on the part of 4chan called the \b\ board?For the most part it’s just the usual amount of internet profanity there.

     • 
       Ruth

       January 8, 2011 at 12:42 pm | # | Reply

       Yes, /b/ is the bowels of Hell, although some threads on /co/ can get pretty damn terrible, too. Depends on the topic.

       • 
         ThePureLight7

         January 17, 2012 at 2:59 am | # | Reply

         /co/mrade here, actually. For the past four days, there’s been a /co/ thread with the following opening:

         “It’s [Insert Day Here] night, /co/. You know what that means. Lesbians.”
2. 
   Black Drazon

   January 7, 2011 at 12:13 am | # | Reply

   I’m not going to sit around and argue any of their points, but this comic is one of the poorer edits seen this week. But it makes up for it in the last panel where Ethan ends up just standing there looking proud of himself for no good reason. It’s his usual 3pm to 4pm activity and he’s not going to let a debate get him down.
3. 
   RaijinK

   January 7, 2011 at 12:37 am | # | Reply

   Saving the most bafflingly contructed for last, eh? (Please tell me this is the last.)
4. 
   Cope

   January 7, 2011 at 1:25 am | # | Reply

   This one’s definitely the weakest of the bunch.
5. 
   Doom Shepherd

   January 7, 2011 at 2:00 am | # | Reply

   Mainly because in this case 4chan is wrong, and defensive about it.

   • 
     Kenshiro28

     January 7, 2011 at 2:26 am | # | Reply

     I dunno, I think they had a point at the time. This was before it became apparent how much of an ‘effing mess the cast really was.

     • 
       Andrusi

       January 7, 2011 at 7:57 am | # | Reply

       Which has jack all to do with the design of Superman’s costume, which is what the original strip and the vitriol that inspired it were about.
6. 
   Old_Crow

   January 7, 2011 at 2:27 am | # | Reply

   The dictionary defines a “fan” as someone who is irrational and incapable of critical thought towards their enthusiasm. Calling someone a “fan” has to be one of the worst insults imaaginable. And calling oneself a “fan” is the depth of self-debasement.

   Can the comics make satire of fandom worse than fandom does to itself?

   • 
     Abjuron

     January 7, 2011 at 2:51 am | # | Reply

     Hmmm, that’s funny. I just checked dictionary.com, and it says “fan” means, primarily, “any device for producing a current of air by the movement of a broad surface or a number of such surfaces.”

     4Chan /b/tards must’ve hacked the site. I’m sure your definition is the correct one.

     • 
       wnderjif

       January 7, 2011 at 7:35 am | # | Reply

       oh man, oh man… oh fan!
   • 
     Bryy

     January 7, 2011 at 3:18 am | # | Reply

     no
   • 
     gwalla

     January 7, 2011 at 11:28 am | # | Reply

     You mean the dictionary in your head, that the voices keep telling you to consult?
   • 
     Dan

     January 7, 2011 at 1:00 pm | # | Reply

     Well, fan derives from “Fanatic” so perhaps that word’s definition? I’m too lazy to look it up.
7. 
   T Campbell

   January 7, 2011 at 2:49 am | # | Reply

   Old_Crow, I’d bet you a dollar that’s not the first definition to be found in any reputable dictionary. The definition I’ve seen that strikes me as most useful is “an ardent follower or admirer.” Granted, the word has roots in “fanatic,” which does have a more negative slant, but that means nothing once you accept that language changes.
8. 
   T Campbell

   January 7, 2011 at 3:31 am | # | Reply

   As far as I can tell, the rewriter of this strip, just like the rewriters of Monday’s and Wednesday’s, doesn’t adequately understand what he or she is attempting to satirize. Ethan’s smug, shit-eating grin is self-satire. The guy who asks “Did one kick your puppy?” is not a strawman, he’s an actual acknowledgment that yes, Ethan is being kind of… religious in his disgust, here.

   In short, in order to prove that Shortpacked “takes cheap jabs at fanboys without realizing their own flaws,” the 4channer rewrites a strip where Shortpacked openly acknowledges that its worldview is slanted, and therefore flawed.

   You know, I don’t care how gross 4chan gets. I actually thought Thursday’s strip was okay, and Tuesday’s was pretty funny, benefiting as it did from hindsight. What bugs me is sloppy, lazy thinking, and 4chan has that in spades.

   God, David, please tell me you don’t have any more of these, or you might actually succeed in turning me into an Ethan at last.

   • 
     TheAlucinaut

     January 7, 2011 at 4:17 am | # | Reply

     hear hear
   • 
     Billy

     January 7, 2011 at 7:07 am | # | Reply

     To be honest, I’ve met a few of people who LOVE Shortpacked! who don’t seem to actually “get it” either. They applaud Ethan for telling off fanboys, and making them look stupid by showing them how wrong they are about pretty much everything — and often try to emulate him on various message boards — while missing the point completely.

     Which I’ve always seen as that Ethan is kind of a hypocrite. That he’s just a much an arrogant screaming fanboy as those he denounces. Only instead of going online and bitching about Hasbro’s flaws to his fellow fans, he goes to work and bitches to his co-workers about fandom’s flaws. Most of whom, I might add, really couldn’t care less.

     It’s interesting, going back and reading the original version of this one, and realizing that the guy Ethan is talking to is actually Thad! Thad of course has called Ethan on his attitude on another occasion, in spectacular fashion. It’s actually one of my favorite Shortpacked! strips. If only to see Ethan get a taste of his own medicine for once.

     http://www.shortpacked.com/2007/comic/book-5/03-ethans-strawman/goaaaal/

     As for 4chan, I’ve only been there once, and that was when Willis had put a link of to show these “hacked” strips, back when they first came out. So I don’t really have an opinion of them.

     • 
       Historyman68

       October 2, 2011 at 1:31 am | # | Reply

       Multiplex is similar, except that the creator freely points out how much of an asshole Jason is. I think things do tend to go a little better when people realize that just because a character’s the protagonist doesn’t mean he’s not also a dick.
   • 
     Knuckle Joe

     January 7, 2011 at 9:56 am | # | Reply

     Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s comics are all from the same guy, but Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are from others.

     I’m surprised the first guy gave up after only three of these, but as I recall, 4chan’s reviews of the edits were just a wee bit harsher than ours.
   • 
     Jonn

     January 7, 2011 at 12:12 pm | # | Reply

     doesn’t adequately understand what he or she is attempting to satirize.

     People who satirize satire rarely do. I’m not sure what it’s like when satirizing satirized satire.

     Satire.

     • 
       Bryy

       January 8, 2011 at 3:33 am | # | Reply

       I watched a high school parody Glee this week. It was so horribly painful.
   • 
     cruncher3019

     January 9, 2011 at 1:12 pm | # | Reply

     Holy shit, it’s T Campbell.

     • 
       PedanticJerkass

       January 9, 2011 at 7:01 pm | # | Reply

       Um, it’s not like this is the first time he’s ever posted here, you know?
9. 
   makkapakka

   January 7, 2011 at 9:32 am | # | Reply

   Very true!
10. 
    Greenygal

    January 7, 2011 at 9:58 am | # | Reply

    It’s a minor point, but why are they holding up BATMAN FOREVER as their anti-standard and not BATMAN AND ROBIN? Especially since that’s the one with the costumes that everyone remembers?
11. 
    Andrew Perron

    January 7, 2011 at 11:29 am | # | Reply

    Ahhhh, I see. You’re doing a compare-and-contrast by showing what *actual* strawman arguments are like.
12. 
    Jonn

    January 7, 2011 at 12:06 pm | # | Reply

    It is amazing how much these miss the point of the very thing they’re mocking. Shortpacked! doesn’t so much mock fandom as it mocks idiots and fanboyism, and this comic makes fun of itself on a regular basis. An excellent example of a straw man.

    Then again, 4chan also thinks humanity in Avatar were the good guys just because they had k3w1 m3ch4.
13. 
    Bill M.

    January 7, 2011 at 12:56 pm | # | Reply

    Actually, I remember the internet hate-on about Superman’s costume. It wasn’t about how it looked, it’s the fact that it was supposedly self-aware and would be fighting crime on its own while Kal-El was off on his day job. Fortunately that was also back when Nicholas Cage was in the running for the role of Supes, and every other superhero in their movies.

    • 
      Zach

      January 7, 2011 at 3:39 pm | # | Reply

      No, actually, this strip was about the Superman Returns costume, long after giant spiders and Nicholas Cage aspects were out of the picture.

      • 
        Kamino Neko

        January 8, 2011 at 12:03 pm | # | Reply

        Yeah, the big problem I remember going on about was that it was textured. (With little s-shields.)

        • 
          Kamino Neko

          January 8, 2011 at 1:06 pm | # | Reply

          *I remember people going on about.

          I didn’t go on about it.

          The last comic book movie I made fun of the costume based on stills was Spider-Man – and the costume came out looking awesome in the actual movie, so I learned my lesson.
14. 
    Krimson

    January 7, 2011 at 1:09 pm | # | Reply

    This is exactly the reason I tend to avoid what I like to call “The Fandom Menace”, so named from the time Star Wars Episode 1 came out and people actually wanted to kill Ahmed Best over Jar Jar. Psychopath much?
15. 
    dangermouse

    January 7, 2011 at 1:51 pm | # | Reply

    ITT, nerds weh-weh because 4chan is correct.

    • 
      Anon

      January 7, 2011 at 4:45 pm | # | Reply

      This, holy crap.
    • 
      Andrusi

      January 8, 2011 at 9:36 pm | # | Reply

      ITC, nerd cares what other nerds think of yet other nerds regarding their opinion of other nerds.
    • 
      PedanticJerkass

      January 9, 2011 at 7:06 pm | # | Reply

      Ha ha ha, you’re precious. Please post more.
16. 
    Jon

    January 7, 2011 at 2:24 pm | # | Reply

    … not really much a punchline there, I have to say.
17. 
    Cattleprod

    January 7, 2011 at 5:36 pm | # | Reply

    I still say the Superman Returns suit had some sort of uncanny valley effect going on. It was SO CLOSE to the standard Superman design that the minor differences annoyed me, even though I had absolutely no problem with the costumes in the X-Men films.
18. 
    ColdFusion

    January 7, 2011 at 6:42 pm | # | Reply

    Am I the only one anal enough to be really bothered by Superman Returns’ costume because it was sky-blue-and-burgundy instead of sapphire-and-scarlet?
    Then again I have trouble seeing Superman with sclerae in his eyes, so.. Timm has ruined me forever.
19. 
    Lokitsu

    January 7, 2011 at 6:49 pm | # | Reply

    I never really had a problem with the costume. Nope, I waited for the movie itself to offend the crap out of me.
20. 
    Menachem Schmuel

    January 7, 2011 at 7:02 pm | # | Reply

    … hey, this is the last guest strip, right?

    Let’s GO. The suspense has been MURDERING ME.

    • 
      The E-man

      January 7, 2011 at 10:35 pm | # | Reply

      AGREED
    • 
      PeaceInOurTime

      January 8, 2011 at 9:05 pm | # | Reply

      So if he holds off continuing the story for a little while longer, the problem will solve itself, right?

      • 
        Menachem Schmuel

        January 8, 2011 at 10:35 pm | # | Reply

        I respawn. Lag’s getting pretty bad though.
        If it keeps going, it might wind up taking three days for me to come back, and then who knows what would happen.
21. 
    Wack'd

    May 12, 2012 at 10:17 pm | # | Reply

    Because Shortpacked! has never been self-deprecating about anything ever.